Sending Joy

“… the story shows that with God all things are possible.” A Course In Miracles

Let’s listen to the story we tell ourselves and others and then watch carefully as our life unfolds.

We hear victim stories all around us and we tell them about ourselves to others over and over with few variations. So and so did this to me and now I’m miserable because of them.  This is a common story. It’s the other person’s fault that I have a lousy relationship, a terrible life and a boring unsatisfying job or no job or no relationship at all. Or we tell the, “I screwed up” story, where we think our mistakes define us and we can never be forgiven. We trap ourselves in a mudslide of guilt and grief. We tend to like the drama of our story, believing that this is who we are. We feel our suffering is what makes us interesting and even heroic in a way. And because the world is the way it is, there is always someone to blame for our problems. Our parents, our partners, our co-workers, our siblings, our bosses and even ourselves. Sometimes we make a feeble effort to change our story, but we always go back to it. It’s like an addiction.  A bad habit. We’re addicted to our story.

But there are people who don’t choose to live that way.  I call them the Hopeful.  The Glass Half Full. The Light at the End of the Tunnel. No matter how life drags them around they seem to see something better than a tale of woe and pain. And even though they experience drama and challenge similar to the rest of us, they remain happy and positive.  Hopeful.  Hopeful for a better future.  A willingness to learn from their mistakes.  A desire to be a better person and have a better life; to experience a gentler, kinder world flowing with forgiveness and harmony and balance. To our untrained eye, life seems so much easier for these hopeful ones. They are the lucky ones, we decide. Most of the time we don’t even see that they are experiencing much of the same challenges we do. We don’t realize the difference between them and us is that they have learned to ride the waves while we are fighting them, dodging them or drowning in them. All of which are exhausting and disheartening.

Those that choose the drama I call the “right fighters.”  Instead of trying to find a peaceful resolution through quiet listening to a Higher Power or through gentleness and kindness toward themselves and others, the right fighters put on their armor and lift their swords or raise their voices and start lashing out as they try to fix the world through anger and self righteousness and fear. They make their story even more dramatic than it needs to be because to them it’s a better story. We see this in the media all the time; the more dramatic and tragic, dark and dangerous, the better the story. 

Let’s take a moment and quiet our dark thoughts and listen to the stories of the hopeful ones. They’re the ones we can learn from. They are easy to recognize because nothing seems to get them down for long. A wave knocks them over and they stand back up. Instead of stories of victimhood, their stories are of quiet triumph and gentle correction, of gratitude and willingness to set their problems aside to be helpful to others. And even laughing at the insanity. Less interesting perhaps, but definitely more satisfying. Stories of hope and promise and forgiveness are what will make the world a better place. Stories of amazing miracles and seeing the light in the darkest moment, is what will help us change our minds about how we want to live our life.

So the moral of this story is that to have a happier life, we need to start telling a happier story.

“I am determined to see things differently.” A Course In Miracles

It may take some work to extricate us from our addiction to drama and victimhood. First we have to want to see ourselves and our life experiences differently. We may even refuse to believe that there is another way to live. Stubbornness and closed mindedness are common symptoms of the drama story tellers. And we mustn’t judge them for their choice to tell a drama story, for that will only strengthen their resolve to defend and believe in their pain. The only way we can be helpful is to be living, breathing examples of hope and healing and laughter and love.  Let’s let our story tell the story and shed the light for others to follow if they wish.  And we will have powerful Guides to lead us on our new path. God and His Angels will welcome our new and better story and will gladly help us live it in a way that is gently and quietly helpful for all. 

Just focus and affirm … “Above all else I want to see things differently.” A Course In Miracles And you will be led on a new path filled with hope, shining with light and bursting with laughter. For those who aren’t ready to see things differently, God and His Angels will quietly and gently wait with us until we are.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Prayers for all those who may be experiencing extreme weather conditions, hurricanes and tsunamis, fires or floods anywhere in this world.  Also blizzards and extreme cold. Our loving thoughts are with you. May God keep you safe and transform the extremes into harmony and balance. 

Let our prayer be for healing and health for all the world. Let us ask for help with kindness and love and trust to generate the health and wellness, safety and peace of mind we want for every man, woman and child on earth. And then let us be grateful and say Thank You, God!

 “A happy outcome to all things is sure.” A Course In Miracles